Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24)in the second half of the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. Clippers won 125-101. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports

by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

by Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

Kobe Bryant made a guarantee the Los Angeles Lakers would reach the NBA playoffs.

If you don't like it, leave.

The All-Star guard was a guest Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he wore awesome leopard-print shoes and talked about all sorts of things, including that guarantee. The Lakers are in ninth place in the Western Conference but closing in on the Utah Jazz for the final berth.

Jimmy Kimmel: You're a game and a half out of the playoffs. You've guaranteed the team will make the playoffs. What do the other guys say when you go and make a guarantee like that?

Bryant: If anyone in the locker room would have said, "Well, I don't know if we're going to make it," I would have called the Buss family and said, "Cut this guy right now, man. Get him out of here."

Kimmel: So there's not a spirit of openness and communication going on in that locker room.

Bryant: Well, there is, as long as it's a winning one.

Bryant discussed his daughter's competitive nature ("We can't compete ... on who falls asleep first; we have no way of keeping track"), the Lakers' improving defense ("It's about time we started playing some kind of defense"), getting old ("I have to do a lot to make sure my body's recovered") and more. He was charming and smooth, as always.

Kimmel even got a nice burn on Bryant, after asking him whether he would visit North Korea for diplomatic relations, a la former Lakers teammate Dennis Rodman.